Whilst there is no industry standard definition of a smartphone it is basically a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality. This gives it the edge over a normal mobile phone with the ability to make use of the vast array of ‘apps’ there are available.
The word ‘Apps’ refers to a programme application which can often be used with any computer and offers a web-based, hosted solution anywhere you have an Internet connection.
Sometimes this type of technology is referred to as ‘software-as-a-service’ or ‘cloud computing’ as a computing model in which IT applications are provided as a service, allowing users to access these applications from the Internet –‘in the cloud’ - without needing to maintain the infrastructure that supports them. In this context, smartphone apps are now being facilitated by using state of the art hardware allowing consumers to have highly mobile access to this wonderful technology.
Apps have become mainly associated in the popular world with the Apple iPhone. Nowadays, however, a plethora of copycat versions at competitive prices has hit the streets, dramatically opening up the market to a wide range of buyers perhaps unable to afford the original ‘Rolls Royce’ smartphone.
Many websites are now producing popularity tables to help capture more sales from the 100,000 plus apps available. They cover a multitude of subjects and categories including fun and games and lifestyle and there are business and education apps too. If you want a more serious application, like Wordpress to enable web design, then this highly sophisticated sort of tool is available to assist the mobile business person to work wherever they find themselves.
